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Can anybody give me a single word for a secluded garden surrounded by a wall?

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Did you have the idea of the Secret Garden in mind? – Thursagen May 16 '11 at 5:44

5 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

Pleasance seems to fit the bill quite nicely.

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+1 what a pleasent word! :) – Paul Amerigo Pajo May 7 '11 at 8:41
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@pageman: according to your user page, you haven't cast a single vote today. We told you once, and we told you twice, and we told you thrice, and I'm telling you for the fourth time: please stop pretending. Thank you. – RegDwighт♦ May 7 '11 at 12:22
+1 @RegDwight :) – Paul Amerigo Pajo May 8 '11 at 2:42
+1 @RegDwight first time I've seen this - I don't know what happens to your responses but I didn't see it - sometimes I get lost in the research I thought I might have clicked it! :P – Paul Amerigo Pajo May 8 '11 at 2:43
up vote 4 down vote

How about courtyard?

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This is a good shout. – Andy F May 7 '11 at 7:48
That's what came to my mind, although a court does not necessarily have a garden. – nico May 7 '11 at 9:19
up vote 2 down vote

It's actually called "walled garden"

A walled garden is specifically a garden enclosed by high walls for horticultural rather than security purposes, though traditionally all gardens have been hedged about or walled for protection from animal or human intruders. Garden walls may also serve a decorative purpose, but their essential function in the north temperate zone has been to shelter the garden from wind and frost.

Curiously, the literal meaning of the word "paradise" IS "walled garden" but it has long since lost that meaning

The word "paradise" entered English from the French paradis, inherited from the Latin paradisus, from Greek parádeisos (παράδεισος), and ultimately from an Old Iranian root, attested in Avestan as pairi.daêza-. The literal meaning of this Eastern Old Iranian language word is "walled (enclosure)",from pairi- "around" + -diz "to create, make". The word is not attested in other Old Iranian languages (these may however be hypothetically reconstructed, for example as Old Persian *paridayda-).

Maybe you can also use hortus conclosus

Hortus conclusus is a Latin term, meaning literally "enclosed garden". "The word 'garden' is at root the same as the word 'yard'. It means an enclosure", observed Derek Clifford, at the outset of a series of essays on garden design, in which he skirted the conventions of the hortus conclusus.1 Thus, at their root, both of the words in hortus conclusus refer linguistically to enclosure.

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up vote 0 down vote

Perhaps you could try plantiecrub, although this source here suggests it would be for growing cabbage.

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up vote 0 down vote

What came to mind are the ancient Roman homes where the second half of the house is surrounded by a peristyle. The use of the word peristyle would be specific to a colonnade with a covered walkway and may not always contain a garden. However, I have seen peristyle garden and peristyle courtyard as alternatives. There is also a cloister, the medieval equivalent.

Secret garden is another possibility.

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